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(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) I fully believe the truth of Ephesians 2:8-9, that we are saved by the grace of God alone and not by our good works. Good works are the result, not the cause, of our salvation in Christ. But back in the Apostle Paul's day, people were turning salvation by grace into an excuse to sin. So Paul wrote "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be!" (Romans 6:1). Today "grace abuse" is all over the Church. I drove by an LGBT-affirming Methodist church today and saw the pastor's sermon title (see below): "Just love, no strings". Later today I saw the cartoon (below right) posted by an ELCA Lutheran who endorses abortion and homosexual behavior. Both are teaching that it is unloving and unnecessary to tell people to repent. I think the opposite is true, it is unloving to tell people to stay the way they are. To do so hurts them for eternity (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) and it hurts those around them. And the first words out of Jesus' mouth in the Gospel of Mark are "...repent and believe in the Gospel" (Mark 1:15). "Repent" literally means "change your mind", and, yes, this is necessary for salvation. Does this mean that we are saved by what we do, by our repentance? No because repentance itself is a gift from God. We are helpless to work repentance up in ourselves, the Holy Spirit produces repentance in us (see Acts 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25), so God gets the credit for all our salvation. But repentance and faith in Christ are indeed necessary for salvation. This is why John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church in the 1700's, formed "holiness clubs" in which Christians met in small groups to keep their repentance and faith in Christ alive. I believe John Wesley would not be welcome at Wesley United Methodist Church. And Wesley certainly wouldn't preach "Just love, no strings attached, you don't need to change." Praise God He LETS us change from the miseries of a life of sin to a new life in Christ. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock  And see the church sign referred to above here.
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(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) The latest edition of Living Lutheran, the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, deals much with "environmental justice" and the dangers of global warming. One article quotes Ruth Ivory-Moore, ELCA program director for environment and corporate responsibility. Who knew the ELCA had such a position? The number of missionaries being sent out by the ELCA is down, but this environmental position has been created. Also in this issue is an article by Bishop Guy Erwin, the ELCA's gay bishop who has a "husband."
Eaton's article talks about dangers to the environment, mentions Earth Day, and then she gives this disturbing definition of the Gospel:
"Here's the gospel. Human beings are part of the creation. Human beings are connected to everything in the cosmos. Human beings are connected to God. We are not doomed to alienation. That God is more present than we are to ourselves gives us a path to reconnect with God, each other and all of creation. The judgment is that we do not even perceive that the One who created all things is intimately present. The promise is that the One who created all things is intimately present. We--all created things--are family." No, that is not the Gospel. The Apostle Paul defined the Gospel in I Corinthians 15:1-5: Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead. Paul doesn't say the Gospel is that "we are connected to the cosmos." Eaton's "gospel" in this article does not mention Jesus or the cross. This is the strange, new world of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a denomination far removed from Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, but closely allied with liberal politics, the LGBT movement, and "environmental justice". Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock |
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Dan Skogen
Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word. If you have been helped and blessed by Exposing the ELCA's ministry, please help us continue to proclaim the truth of God's Word to ELCA members who need to hear it.
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Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11
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